Speaking of Are We Going There?!?!

It's Tuesday.

Yes, Tuesday.  Mark it on the calendar.

A friend sent me this funny --

Useless Purchase Poker:

I'll see your 2020 Planner

and raise you a travel backpack and an ESPN subscription.

Yup. 😂

Speaking of travel backpacks:  we had two trips to London planned for this spring.

We ain't going in two weeks, for sure.   Cancelled a long time ago (by the university).

But then there's Delta.  It took 45 minutes on hold on the phone before an "agent" finally talked to me -- it then took about 5 minutes to get my money back (supposedly -- "it may be a week before it shows up on your credit card").

You see, Delta was acting like there wasn't a travel ban from here to Europe.  Like someone was really getting on that flight (which BTW had changed airports and times) to London. 

😡😡😡

So, that's annoying.

But we also have tickets on British Airways for June 11. 

They think we are going.

This is crazy-making, as someone used to say.

I know the travel ban doesn't go that far, but does anyone think we are opening up the airways to Europe by then?  Is anyone going to want to travel for pleasure then, especially by air?  You did see one of the airline workers unions asked that pleasure travel be banned for the near future, right?  You know, it's like seriously dangerous being on a plane with someone who might be asymptomatic (who knew that word before this started?) just for shits and giggles?

So, here I am, wondering about June 11th.  My wife has said "no way am I getting on that plane" and I laugh and say British Air thinks you are. 😂

They are insane.  That they don't make it easy for you to cancel, postpone, or refund flights till...well, till there's herd immunity (which might not be a thing here) or a vaccine is not good business.  I know I'm going to look closely next time before picking BA.

But let's get to the point here: what are we looking forward to?  The end of "this"?  Our governor is allowing outdoor activities as of Friday (and the liquor stores are upscaling so you can get liquor easier).  Is that it?  Pretty blah.  At least gas is the cheapest it's been since 1892 so you can drive cheaply to...pretty much nowhere.

I doubt much of anyone is taking a vacation this summer.  Not much in the way of trips.  Disney Land and World are still closed (though the crazies in Florida are going to let Floridians go to World, which is really crazy -- ever been to one of those?  You're in line with ten people inside the social distancing circle CONSTANTLY!  The food venues you eat on top of someone (last time there, in Cali, we actually had to sit with two young women we did't know -- would you do that now?!?!). 

So, we are all bummed out and the airlines think we are going.  It doesn't get any more existential than that. 

Where ya going?

I missed yesterday blogging.  In fact, the readership stats said there wasn't a lot of delight about Saturday's. 😞

But it's Monday.  Yes, readers, it is MONDAY!  Doesn't have the same bang it once did, does it?

I don't envy the governors who have to decide when to reopen states.  Our governor has said he's looking at May 8th -- a week from Friday -- to do some reopening.

Go for it, Guv!

But I'm going to write this down: you can open, it don't mean we're going there.

I'll run down a list.

• Are you going to a restaurant to eat on May 8th?  May 15th?  
• Are you getting your haircut?
• Are you going to a movie theatre? (this used to be one of our favorite weekend activities)
• Are you going to a baseball game (they are arguing about how to reopen safely and play games)?
• Are you getting on an airplane? 

I'll help you with the answers most sane people will give: no, no, no, no, and hell no!

If true for a good number of Americans, I'll break this to those wanting the economy "back" -- it isn't back till we can do all those things without worrying.  

For instance, airplanes.  The airlines are in the dumpster.  They have federal bailout money.  But they are down from like 2.5 million passengers a day to 100,000.   Will they be back to 50% in May?  I don't think so.  (part of this, of course, is determined somewhat by whether venues like Disney Land and World are even open -- if they aren't, you aren't getting on a plane for nothing).  We have tickets to London (bought last fall, believe it or not, and fares we thought were cheap) for the middle of June -- the decision-maker here says there's no way we're getting on that plane.  How about July?  Eh.  August? still eh.  Christmas break?  Well, maybe.  At this point, our best guess as to when to reschedule is next year at spring break (March).  

If that's true of a significant number of people, it'll be forever and a day before the airlines are back to 2.5m per day.  That part of the economy isn't back soon.

And if it's true of airlines, think of all the others in the same boat.  No theatres, no concerts, no sport events (with crowds).  No catered events.  

And oil.  Did you see last week they'd pay you to take 1,000 barrels of oil (what I'd do with it, that's a different story)?  Pay YOU!  Demand is zero.  So, even if there's a "reopening" on May 14th (two weeks from today), who's jumping in their car and driving?  Now so many commuters have found that they can work from home, are they going to start commuting again on May 14th?  I don't think so.  Are we going to drive to vacations?  Again, I don't think so.  

Consumers in cars and trucks make up 40% of US demand on oil.  If it's down a quarter, then it's still a major hit to the economy. 

And remember that at least 23m people have filed for unemployment the last 5 weeks.  

So, no matter what the great push is, we ain't coming back soon.  We aren't going out to places like we did and a whole bunch of industries are going to continue limping at a low percentage of what they were for a long, long time. 

So, get that straight, people! 

Haircut? Tattoo you!

Okay, I started this blog to chat about what was going on during the pandemic.

What wasn't going on is we weren't getting haircuts (or tatoos).

Until now!

The governor of Georgia has partially "reopened" his state, especially hair salons and tattoo parlors.

If you haven't been watching the news, you might wonder about this.  As you are about to see, even if you do, you should wonder about this.

The funniest tweets about this was a set a week ago of this woman in Detroit, protesting, leaning out of her car window, showing the camera crew "see, I need a haircut now."  The video showed her gray roots down the center of her scalp.

Someone took this clip, showed the average growth of hair, how long the gray was, and calculated that it had been OCTOBER the last time she had her hair done!  Like, what were you doing then that was so important and now suddenly in a pandemic your roots are a priority. 

We really didn't need all the calculations to figure out it was ludicrous.

We need haircuts!  We need tattoos!  I want a tat that says "America...the world's dumbest country."

I really don't get the hair and tattoo thing.  Oh, yeah, bowling alleys...bowling alleys??!?!!?

Sure, I understand that all these proprietors are "small businesses" blah blah blah, but for those worried about the economy -- are we really a country whose economy is driven by haircuts, spas, tattoos, and bowling??!!??  I think we are in serious trouble if we are.

We can live without all of them; we can't live with the virus.  Literally.

And if it's not about "economic engine," then it's about looks?  Then we are the world's most superficial nation?  We can't imagine sitting at home with bad hair -- when we're not supposed to see anyone?  You're kidding, right?  Right?

It is a great stumper, why these kinds of businesses have become a cause celebre in these troubled times.  But then yesterday lots of people had to tell people not to ingest bleach, so I guess there's no explaining a lot of things.

Enjoy the nice weather (at least here, for a day) and don't worry about your hair.  It sucks, but so does everyone else's.

Havin' a Birthday. And a draft!

[think of this as yesterday's blog.  I got distracted! 😁]

It's Shakespeare's Birthday!!!  🎉

Well, okay, let's be pedantic (our thesaurus word for the day) -- we don't know he was.  He was christened on the 26th, that we know, the records still exist, but we assume that's 3 days after he was born, but we don't know for sure.  Like a lot of things about Willy Shakes.

Surely you've heard (or are about to) that Willy lived through multiple pandemics.  During the one he wrote his two long poems, Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece.  Clearly, he was as bored as we are. 😀.  During a later one, again quarantined, he merely kicked out King Lear.  You should feel bad about yourself (sorry) if you aren't matching that output.  You know, two poems that would make you famous on their own or maybe one of the great plays of all-time.

Before moving on (since this is to KILL TIME!), I will point out that his childhood home is still there in Stratford-upon-Avon (and his tomb) and you can visit if you should go there.   Stratford-u-A is a nice little market town, but it'd no doubt amuse him to see how touristy and kitsche it is, given it is nowhere near any "beaten path." 

Let me also remind you that he died on this day in 1616, yes, just 52-years-old.  A month before he made his extant will and it said he was in good health.  Lots of pandemics, remember. 😢

My Twitter feed was full of people finding ways of sharing things they were doing for his birthday.  So many feeds, so many people with time on their hands.

Now, to the second part: the NFL draft.

I never watch it.  Didn't this year.  I am not sure what there is to watch, really.  Announce a name, the player comes on stage, puts on a hat, shakes the commissioner's hand, and we rinse and repeat.  Of course there are highlights, but most of these guys are better known than your local Congressperson, so there aren't many highlights you haven't seen before (since you probably watched those games).

But I do watch the feed to keep up who is doing what.  And read some of the mock drafts to know what might happen.  It was funny how many guys (all guys!) thought we wanted to see their mock drafts on Twitter yesterday morning.  I almost made up one of mine just to mock them. :)

Anyway, nothing exciting happened.  People tweeted "live sports are back" -- no!  A draft is not playing a sport, but there you go.  (you know that multiple race tracks are running horse races, as per normal, even as we talk and Churchill Downs is talking about opening...maybe "soon" is the wrong word). 

Anyway, nothing exciting happened, by which I mean for the first ten or more picks it was about as predicted by people.  In the teens a couple teams "reached" -- went for a player consensus had lower in the talent list -- and then there were some trades, including the Packers, who have been blessed for a generation with great quarterbacks, trading up and taking a quarterback (his wonderful name is Jordan Love.  One headline, the winner, said "Heir Jordan."). 

So, today there was something.  Tomorrow -- TGIF!!!  🎉.

It's hump day: who has a mask?

Yes, it's Wednesday.  Day 40.  That's the way I'm counting it.  You can do your own count.

Hump day.  Sure it is.  But that hump seems a lot less important when you can't tell Wednesday from Saturday. 

Remember the day when wearing a mask meant you were going in to rob a place?

No more.  They are more of the norm.

Almost.

Saturday morning I made our traditional trip to the local bagel shop.  I wore a mask.  All the workers wore masks. 

But most of the customers didn't!!!  Mostly 20-something males -- you know, the kind of people who survive everything.  Right? 

But back to masks.

I saw one yesterday I wanted: it had Sponge Bob and Patrick on it!  :)

This is a thing.  You go on the internet (see yesterday on shopping therapy) and you have no trouble finding all kinds of patterns.  My daughter has a Gryffindor mask (nerd!).  [if you have to ask what that is, you slept through a whole generation of pop culture inculcation]

One local business has transitioned into making masks.  These have a special filter inside. 

Lots of people have sewed their own with all kinds of patterns.  My son has one, given by work, that's an American flag.  Just because, you know.

Of course, you never know when you might want or need a camo one. :).

Masks.  I won't go all profound here about the new thing of us all wearing masks -- a new metaphor for hiding our real selves -- but we might all need masks as identifying, or worrying about, those who have the virus.  We all go out with masks (unless you're a 20-something male) and wonder who without one, or even with one, might be carrying Covid.  How long before those who have had it are identified somehow to all of us? 

Maybe not. 

But we'll have masks to keep us safe.

Shopping therapy

It's Tuesday.  Day XXX of SAH.  (for me, personally, it's 39).  No, I'm not crazy!  😜

It's time to talk about that unspoken elephant in our room: all the delivery trucks going up and down our streets even under the SAH order.

We even have Amazon Prime going through our neighborhood.  As well as FedEx, UPS, and, of course, USPS.

It does not take a genius to know we are, many of us, sitting at our computer, or iPad, or just a phone, hunting and clicking.

Lots of stuff is sold out, or temporarily out of stock.

Try getting a pair of hair clippers. 

Or try getting anything having to do with cleaning.  You can get organic, not germ killing, but not anything that might kill the virus. 

Masks aren't easy to get either.  Though Etsy will sell you one that they tell you isn't one that's good by the CDC for the virus.

But we all are shopping.  Looking.  A box or package comes here almost every day.  A delivery of wine.   Then, because, you know, you have to have room, a new, bigger wine fridge.  New outfits.  Especially tops (you know, bc everyone checks everyone out on zoom meetings). 

I wish I could claim there were books or something edifying like that. 

Nope, it's clearly retail therapy (new sweaters? they were on clearance, of course!)

We live in an age of consumerism.  Is it advanced consumerism?   Well, it is compared to previous generations.

And the Covid-19 has shown us both the error of that -- stores going out of business and people not having jobs -- and the good of it (we can keep buying through a pandemic). 

But we have our wine! 

Till tomorrow.

Monday blahs and everyday idiots

Yup, it's Monday.  Somewhere somebody's happy.

That is, of course, a lie.

But let's act like it isn't and someone thinks Monday is just fine.  Rah rah. 

But it's not.

Weekends are hard to differentiate. 

And this week I have almost nothing on my schedule.  Not even a single Zoom meeting, after a bevy of them last week.  (I'm working on my vocabulary)

Speaking of bevy (you knew I'd find a way to use it again), there have been a bevy of idiots roaming state capitols recently. 

Why do they wave Confederate flags?  They know they lost, right?  And they know they are protesting against state rights (which was kind of a big deal to the Confederacy) by protesting at the capitol, right?  That it is governors who have been doing the work on the pandemic while Washington is fighting them for test that will actually allow us to go back to normal?

Why do they bring their guns?  Is it because some states have closed gun stores as non-essential?  Unless you're using it to get your meat every day (and if you are I bet you already have at least one gun to do that), it's NOT essential.  And, just in case you don't understand, it won't work on the virus.

Oh, that's right, the whole Covid-19 thing is just another flu. 

Uh huh.   Covid has killed 40,000 plus Americans already.  That's 10 years of flu.  The thing these people don't understand is when we talk about flu-related deaths is that we report everybody who had the flu and anything killed them.  For covid, we are only counting cases that we KNOW were the virus (had to be tested positive).  If you never got tested and died suddenly and you had COPE or some other condition that might have killed you anyway, you aren't one of the 40,000.

And Dr. Phil saying we kill more people with cars each year: yes, and we have laws to try to reduce that every year, too.  Seat belts, air bags, speed limits.  If everyone went around going as fast as they wanted with no seat belts, bumpers, or airbags, how many people would we kill.  And let's not forget little kids and their car seats.  We bear the risk and try to be careful and not kill people.

Going out without a mask and getting inside the 6' zone of people, not washing your hands, etc, is like driving at 100 in a car without a seatbelt, heck, maybe not even a windshield (we mandate those too) and hoping you will be all right if someone pulls out in front of you.

So, that's today's rant.  I feel only a little better.  Maybe we'll have more fun tomorrow.   It IS Monday! 😡

In SAH, WFH, how do you know it's Saturday?

Saturday.  You know it's Saturday, right?

For reasons that have been obscured with time, I have studied Daniel Defoe's Journal of a Plague Year.  Written in 1722 about the 1665 plague in London -- when Defoe was 5.  In other words, he fudged a lot of the contemporary feeling of the "journal."

I wonder what they'll think 57 years from now reading about our pandemic months.  I mean, they'll see pictures of crowds, not social distancing, carrying AR-15s, with signs with swastikas, protesting that they don't have the freedom to...to...I actually saw one tweet pushing the opening of golf courses (which are somewhat open in some states).

But it's Saturday.

It's getting to be a struggle to track that.

How do you know it's Saturday?

First, you sleep in.  There's no "I gotta be up" to...no alarm.  Alexa isn't playing that call to action it does other mornings.

Don't do that?  Okay, let's be more subtle.

1) you don't have the usual for breakfast.  Right? 
2) you watch something different on TV -- not Morning Joe, not Fox and Friends, but instead maybe CBS Weekend Saturday. 
3)  you listen to Wait, Wait, Don't Tell (it's Saturday) on NPR.  Clearly, this is for a certain artsy reader, OC.
4) You actually do that exercise you haven't had time to do.
5) You watch sports.   Okay, I lied.  You don't watch sports.  It's reruns.  Were they showing Ohio State-Michigan?  Why do we care to see Michigan lose (which it has the last X years)?
6)  There's no "briefing" from the White House or the Governor.  Oh.  Never mind.
7) The dog or cat acts like you are acting wrong and you've messed up their schedule.

It's really tricky, isn't it?  But it's not 1665 London.  It's not even 1918 USA.  We can do this.  We can stay in our sweatpants (see yesterday's blog), we can keep eating and putting on weight, we can keep using Zoom like it's no longer annoying more than interesting. 

Tomorrow will be Sunday.  It'll be so different, right?  Right?  Right? 

Pants pants Revolution!

TGIF!  Yes, I said I'd remind you, a la the camel in the Geico ads, of "what day is it?"

It's Friday.   Day ??? of quarantine/stay-at-home/boredom city.

So.  I got my check from the IRS.  What are we calling it?  My bro-law says it's his "Trump check."  I've seen it called the stimulus check, but also seen someone say there's nothing really to stimulate.  It's the "not-enough-for-ten-weeks-but-they-gave-us-something" check. 

Or something.

So, I got my check.  And decided it was time to go shopping.

Because I'm tired of everyone humble bragging about hanging out in their sweats.

I haven't been. 

Then there are people wondering if it's bad they talk about wearing their "good sweats" (the answer is YES!).

So, I went shopping for sweats.

You think this wouldn't be a BD, right?

Sure. 

I started with Bombas, because there was an email yesterday from them claiming some kind of sale (ICYMI there's almost ALWAYS an email saying there's a sale, but that's another issue). 

So, I went and looked.  Quick couple clicks to their sweatpants.

$78.

SEVENTY-EIGHT DOLLARS?!?!!?!?  WTF?!?!?!?!?

Okay.  I'm going to admit this.  Other than a blazer, I have never paid $78 for a piece of clothing in my life.  Yesterday wasn't the day, and today isn't either.  Even with the "live on it for ten weeks" check in the bank (and, if you missed it, you ain't living long on $1,200 if you pay $78 for your sweats.  At least I'd think they'd be your "good" sweats).

But,

This gets better.

I go to my next option.  I will not tell you who, but another clothing retailer that advertises a lot on Sirius XM and does that subscription kind of thing, too. 

$128.

ONE HUNDRED TWENTY EIGHT DOLLARS!!!!!!  Now, admittedly, they didn't call theirs sweat pants.  No, no, no, no, no!   Loungewear. 

I'm wondering what $128 loungewear bottoms will do for...this thought is not a wholesome one. 😇

Okay.  I move on, immediately after restoring my heart beat.

Third webpage.  For members, $48.  Really?!?!?  And I'm not sure what they were made out of.  They have a funky name for the synthetic for their yoga/lounge wear.  Don't you want your sweats made out of something more like cotton??!?!?  Yes.

I ended up (I'll name them, since it's not bad pub) spending $25 on a fairly fancy (for me) pair from LandsEnd.  Actually cotton.  Basic, solid color.  They will be my "good" pair (not owning another pair makes this easier). 

But can you believe it?  $78?  $128?  Even $48? 

Sure not doing a lot of that for very long on your Ten Week Check.

Manana.

Check, please! And the desire to "open"

It's Thursday.  Hump day came and went.  I had multiple Zoom meetings.  I wish I had bought Zoom stock back in say January -- but not being a US Senator I had no inside info that shit was coming. :)

Yes, the magic check appeared in my bank account yesterday.  It was less than calculated here, but then no one has a copy of the 2018 1040 sitting around.  Do you? (I know people who read this who will be saying "yes, duh" but I ain't one of them 😀) 

I told my bro-law I was thinking of investing it in toilet paper futures.  I saw on Twitter a paper mill in Maine that makes toilet paper burned yesterday.  😔 (acc to the key, this is a "pensive face." Really?!)

But today's "thing" has to be the acceleration of people wanting to "open the economy."  There was a protest in Ohio yesterday for the governor to let up restrictions.  I am not the first one to say this: it looked like a Zombie movie.

Then there's the Pennsylvania legislature.  If you don't know this, it's been Republican since 2010.  And we have a Democratic governor now in the middle of his second term. 

So the Republicans decided the governor wasn't doing the whole stay at home thing right, that more businesses should be open, so they passed a bill (SB613) that opens more businesses.   The liquor store was one of the ones frequently cited (PA is the only state that has closed them, deeming them non-essential.  Talk about a mistake in definition!!!).  Also, and more questionably, construction.  They want to go back to building stuff. 

The Democrats tried in both the House and Senate to add worker protections to the bill -- making wearing masks in stores mandatory for workers, more unemployment coverage, that sort of thing -- but failed.

Felt a lot like politics.

No one likes this.  No one likes not going out.  Few (now) like not going to work. 

But we all recognize this virus is deadly and spreads easily.  Today's message from our lieutenant governor seems to be "let's get to <1 reproductive value on the virus" -- which means every person gives it to less than one person.  Then it dies. A good message.

But let me finish with this for those out there protesting or legislating to open things up: you can do that all you want, and governors can say "we're open for business," but a lot of people (it'll be interesting to see how many) aren't going anywhere other than the grocery store or work -- depending on the environment and leave time -- until there's either herd immunity or a vaccine.  A lot of people aren't going to run out to businesses and buy stuff if they can get the virus.  A lot of people aren't going to restaurants to eat until there's almost no chance of getting something that can kill people in hours. 

So, acting like you're just going back to "normal" with an edict and wishful thinking is you being a dumb ass.

Have a good one.  We've almost made it through week 10 zillion of "Stay at Home" -- TGIF !!! woo woo. 

Waiting for Godot, aka what's not coming

Yup, I took a couple of days off.  Sunday was a holiday (did it feel like one to you? because here it felt like most other days, other than we had ham [which we never have except for...] for dinner), then yesterday was so Monday -- I had nothing to say.

We are all waiting.  For something.

I keep checking my bank app to see if the deposit has come from the Feds for my pandemic relief.  No, I don't really need the money; I'm fortunate to have a job, and my wife has one, which has kept us both employed for the duration (fingers crossed), but I just want to see it.  I know others have gotten theirs already.

But that's where we all are: waiting.  Hoping.  The stimulus check is just a symbol of that: waiting and hope.

It's Tuesday.  I should have led with that for those of you who forgot, haven't looked, and need me to tell you.  This has been a sensation the last week, the weather guy on the Cleveland morning show, with the same thrill we all feel about the days these days:

Other than tomorrow (and tomorrow and tomorrow, as Macbeth puts it), what are we waiting for?

The end of quarantine, right?  And we keep hearing varied possibilities on that.  The governors of a bunch of states, including mine, came out yesterday with a task force that would help decide when we should "reopen" -- but there was no hint when that might be.

The ubiquitous Dr. Fauci said on a Sunday news show it could be mid-May (groan!) but hedged that with "in some places."

It ain't gonna be soon people.

So, let's remind each other what day it is, toss a bit of confetti in daily celebration, and wash our hands.  And imagine it could be worse.  It could be...

Saturday. No park. No moving. No money.

I saw someone call this Saturwednesday.  Funny.  I get the point.  Do you?

I've already lamented the lack of live sports on TV on weekends.  It's the Saturday of Easter weekend.  The sun is out and there are places with decent weather.  But no golf, no baseball.  And there's not even the NBA, which plays till at least Flag Day most years.

I saw someone on Twitter was doing live betting on card races.  I didn't understand it either, but there was a while group of guys, violating social distancing, and laying bets on which card moved up the board the fastest, based on a draw of the deck.

We're in trouble here, folks.

But today I want to vent. 

I'm tired of people filling my Twitter feed with all these 9 point choices.  Or 3 choices.

Just stop with the "which 3...which 1...list 4..." 

I know you're bored, and so am I, to some extent (though I'm beginning to learn way too much about Oaklawn Park's track features; I also know Fox's picker sucks), but no.

Just no.

A 3x3 of 9 fast food restaurants I don't want to frequent and have never eaten in is NOT interesting.

A 3x3 of Pennsylvania foods that no one should eat doesn't appeal.

Which one of these 4 movies is best...when I've either seen none, or thought none were good, no!

We're all trying too hard.  This was clever before.  It's not clever when you're the 50th person to do it.

And, to make us all feel better, I see Dr. Fauci said it might be November before we are back to some kind of normal.  I would want to know how he was defining that, but by November I'm pretty sure this house will only have one inhabitant (instead of 3).  We'd have to change the census. :)

Good luck to you and happy Easter tomorrow.  I hear we're having ham.  Just because.

TGIF (Thank God Its Food)!

Yes, IT'S FRIDAY!  Rah rah.

I have friends who question whether it matters.  It does.  Not sure how much.

But it's Friday.

We struggle for another day.  Fighting time, boredom, and repetition.

But one thing to bring up here is that maybe that F should be "food," not Friday.

Because there is A LOT of food in my Twitter feed.

You have heard about the Covid 15, right?

Weeks ago someone postulated that we were going to be stuck at home for weeks, not getting enough exercise (in fairness, I see people in their Twitter feed talk about exercise programs while stuck at home, too, but not nearly as many as I'm about to recount about food), eating, and we'd all gain 15 lbs. 

Fifteen?!?!?!  I'd be in a place I've never been before (admission, I was not my slimmest when this started).

How? Why?

First, again in my Twitter feed, I keep seeing all these "you can only pick 3" options -- out of 9 pictures.  One of these was casual dining places (someone said "hard pass" to picking through these), but many others put out picks.

Then there were a whole series of the  9 picture thing with snack food: one may have been sponsored by Little Debbie!  I mean, with pictures, over and over, of Hostess chocolate cupcakes, honey buns, twinkies, hohos, and whole bunch of cookies.  Where's the gun GIF?

But I'm not done.  There are a whole series of feeds with recipes.  One had "fifteen meals you can make quickly with 5 ingredients."  Eight of them made me gag.  One, as I remember, was carved out butternut squash to make a kind of taco (gag, gag) -- lots of spaghetti.

I've seen a whole series of recipes from supposedly famous chefs.  I did recognize Bobby Flay, famed for hamburgers, who surprisingly didn't just pitch two weeks worth of different burgers (and shakes, don't forget) but put out a series of meals that would be easy to prepare -- starting with a couple chickens that you then turn into chicken soup and chicken salad. 

Are you beginning to see the issue here? 

I won't go into all the people on twitter baking -- either desserts or various kinds of bread.

Just the pictures would put on 5 of the alleged 15 pounds.

So, today, as you sludge through another work day, or another just dreadful day, just think of food. 

Twitter will help.  A lot!

Chin up, we'll make it, it looks like New York's curve is flattening, rah effin' rah. 

The Thursday Blahs: the perception of quarantine

Yes, it's Thursday. 

Just a reminder.

For those of you in sweatpants for the zillionth consecutive day. :)

Thursdays have never been my favorite.  Wednesday gives you the hope of the hump, but then you have the doldrums of grinding through another work day.  With TGIF right behind.

And it decided in NCPA to be cloudy, rainy and colder today. ):

I have realized that the struggle isn't that I can't go out -- it's that I want to!!! 

You see, I have also realized that, other than work, I really don't leave the house that much.  As troubling as that realization may be.

But now that I can't -- I want to.

I suspect this is the paradox of prison.  You don't really have a place you want to go, you just want to go.

Anyone else know what I mean?

Like, was going to the grocery store even necessary, or did I "run an errand" just to feel like I could go when and if I wanted to?

[I will save my notes about the movement of time for another day -- I think we all are aware of how long March was...and how long April is going to be...and now our governor has closed schools for the rest of the year, so maybe there'll be a STAH order till June...]

Thursday.  Thor's Day.  It really does hit you like his hammer.

Happy Hump Day!

Yes, it's hump day.

Remember it?

In case you need more help, it's WEDNESDAY!  the middle of the week (thus the hump, we all think)

Remember those GEICO commercials that popularized the term with the talking camel walking through office cubicles asking "What day is it? What daaaaaaayyyy is it?"  And, of course, Mike.

Now we are all the camel's foils.  What day is it?

Wednesday.  Hump day. 

Of what we were told by various people at the overused White House podium would be the worst week of our lives -- our Pearl Harbor.

I'm not sure they got that right, several different ways. 

But it's a struggle working from home.  Not going out for this or that.  Of masking up to go to the grocery store.  Of not traveling anyway.

But is it the worst week ever?

I wonder what we'll think if or when we go back and read this in weeks or months.

But we have to go on, plodding like our camel, remembering the day, working, going on. 

Here in NCPA it's the best day we have had all spring -- 70 and sunny.  Spring is here.  Flowers are blooming, trees are budding, birds are chirping.

It ain't all bad.

And maybe, just maybe we've flattened the curve enough to hope.

Maybe.

Maybe it's really hump day. :)

You've got mail!

[Ed. note: this is a series of short blog pieces, one per day (maybe) <aren't we all bored, looking for something to do?>, talking about some daily thing affecting our lives on a personal level -- not comments about the feds, outside states, etc. That's the purpose.  Let's see...]

Yes, I missed yesterday.  Or was uninspired.  A word that covers a lot of days these days.  Agree?

One funny aspect of WFH and week 4 is how I have begun to notice, and enjoy, the delivery of the mail.  I remember previously there would be conversations like, "Did anyone get the mail in?" or "Did you see the mail, I was looking for..."

No longer. 

I'm excited as a puppy for the mail carrier to arrive.  It breaks the monotony of the day -- ours comes in the early afternoon -- 2ish.  You can see the little van-like vehicle parked down the block and hear her (ours is currently a her) steps on the porch as she delivers.

Admission: some days it's a bummer -- junk mail.  It is concerning how many companies, mostly airlines but sometimes Capitol One, want to give one of us in the household a new credit card at almost no interest.  I thought the banking and credit system had tightened after the Great Recession.  Not if they are sending us open-ended requests!

But then there are the good days: some days a box or soft pack comes from a subscription service!  For instance, yesterday it was Birchbox (which wasn't for me, but still...).  Those days the arrival of the mail, and gathering of it, is a moment of excitement in days lacking anything else to look forward to.  

Since I keep seeing people talking about "the big picture," maybe this is an effect of this pandemic -- we will again appreciate the whole mail delivery thing.  The people and technology involved.  

Just as we should better appreciate those who work at pharmacies and grocery stores.  Especially the stockers.  God bless them!

But today I await the mail, again.  Tail wagging. 

PS. It's only a matter of time before I spend one of these rhapsodizing about streaming service drops. :)

Another sportsless Sunday

[Ed. note: this is a series of short blog pieces, one per day (maybe) <aren't we all bored, looking for something to do?>, talking about some daily thing affecting our lives on a personal level -- not comments about the feds, outside states, etc. That's the purpose.  Let's see...]

Yes, it's Sunday.  Sunday.  Sunday.

Remember the day.  Here in this house it is day 23 of quarantine.  Grrrr...

It's Palm Sunday.

Yet no one (sane) is out and about enjoying a spring-like day, or worshipping at the beginning of Christian Holy Week. 

We walked through our park around noon today.  We met no one. 

Our evening walk met a few, but it wasn't crowded, despite 66 degree temperatures.

In between: no sports. 

This would have been the Sunday between the March Madness seminfinals and the final on Monday.  Most years there would be baseball, this year in its second week, and probably golf -- priming for next week's (of course now postponed) Masters.

None of that was on. ): None of that will be on.  For awhile.

We are a nation that loves its televised sports.  March Madness, baseball season, golf, and, soon, NBA playoffs.  Gone, gone, gone, and gone.

And if you think all these "let's replay this game" things make up for it -- bull shit!!!  A big part of watching live sports is the drama: who wins, who plays well?  If you know Seton Hall beat Michigan in 1995, making PJ Carlissimo such a household name he is still on TV, then there's not much reason to watch, other than to see how long everyone's shorts were that year.

No. There's drama these days in live horse racing, this weekend from Tampa Bay, Gulfstream Park and Oaklawn Park.  I watched a little yesterday (it keeps raining at Oaklawn, which is in Arkansas) and it's fun to watch them go at it, even if you don't know who's who.  Part of the fun is in the not knowing how it'll play out -- will that crazy horse that goes out to the lead early and looks like it's running away hold on?  Will the one that looks uninterested in last place sweep past everyone and win?  Or will someone sneak through on the inside, having been pretty much ignored the whole race?

It's Sunday.  Palm Sunday.  We miss the drama of live sports. 

It just makes the days harder to take.  And harder to keep track of. 

Sigh...

New Notions of Time (pssst, it's Saturday!)

[Ed. note: this is a series of short blog pieces, one per day (maybe) <aren't we all bored, looking for something to do?>, talking about some daily thing affecting our lives on a personal level -- not comments about the feds, outside states, etc. That's the purpose.  Let's see...]

Some people read yesterday's first blog.  Thanks! 

Today is Saturday.  SATURDAY! 

I have a friend who has asked the last couple of weeks if it makes any difference what day it is -- yes! Yes! Yes! 

But we all, here in most of America, have gotten used to, or are getting used to, a whole new meaning of time.  

The first, funniest meme I saw on this was:

I have now lived through seven decades

The 60s

The 70s

The 80s

The 90s

The 00s

The 10s

March.

LMAO!  

Feels so true.  

But let me put it out there: if you thought March was long, wait till you see April!  

None of us were quarantined all of March; it looks like everyone will be for all of April.  

Oh, shit. 

T.S. Eliot said "April is the cruelest month" and though he lived through the Spanish flu epidemic, he had no idea about this.  

Is it only noon? 😒

We have all begun to strain as we can't separate one day from another, since we move our workspace, or not, a few feet, so that Monday is like Tuesday is like Wednesday is like Saturday.  

I have a new way to measure time:

Since I quoted Eliot above, this seems to be 2020's variation on his "Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,/I have measured out my life with coffee spoons."  We are measuring ours out in sheets of TP.

There was a piece on the internet where the person calculated how long toilet paper lasted.  You know, two weeks ago in the beginning of the rush to horde.  Aren't we all calculating that? 😠

And, if you haven't read about it, here's a good article about why there's a TP crisis. 

Search Results

Web results

What Everyone's Getting Wrong About the Toilet Paper Shortage

Eliot made a life of tea parties and social events sound like hell.  Now we have a life with no tea parties or social life and we know he was wrong. 

But we'll get through it:

Remember, it's Saturday!  Hooray!  

Notes from the Edge (of the Apocalypse): E Tu Brutus?!

[Ed. note: this is a series of short blog pieces, one per day (maybe) <aren't we all bored, looking for something to do?>, talking about some daily thing affecting our lives on a local level -- not comments about the feds, outside states, etc. That's the purpose.  Let's see...]

So, my thing today is: why can't local grocery stores get their act together to do curbside service?

Two weeks ago, TWO WEEKS AGO!, I tried to get groceries without going into the store.  There are two grocery stores within a mile of my house.  Well, the first, Weis, didn't do it.  Their app said they did, but it wouldn't go beyond filling the cart, so I called the local store.  I was told they didn't do that.

Then I tried the Giant app.  Which switched me to Peapod (I'm just reporting).  In the end, I couldn't schedule till five days later?!?!!?!? 

WTF!?!!?

How hard is this?  I've been in Giant when their "associates" were filling these orders for people -- it doesn't look like rocket science (or, as the joke goes, rocket surgery), so it doesn't seem like it is about personnel (and as of now there are only a handful of Covid cases in this county, so it can't be people out sick), and they do it with a scanner on their arm that tells them they are getting the item ordered. So, it doesn't look tricky.

So how can grocery stores not have this figured out?  Why don't they have their personnel doing this already? How hard is it?

It's something we all want -- access to groceries without having to stay this far away from each other --
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fcn6sah5vf8

So, today's first day rant is this: why can't grocery stores get their act together and provide enough slots for us all to drive up and get our groceries?  Or most of us? 

Get your act together?!?!?